CPI 3.7%Unemployment 4.2%30Y mortgage 7.24%Saving 3.8¢ per $1Debt service 11.11%Fed funds 3.88%10Y Treasury 4.94%U.S. debt $40.594TDebt / household $301,162Household pressure 43.2

How many people who want a job can’t find one?

Unemployment rate

The civilian unemployment rate (U-3), seasonally adjusted: people without a job who looked for work in the past four weeks, as a share of the labor force.

4.2%

Percent of labor force, September 2026

−0.2 pts from a year earlier

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Percent of labor force

Shaded: U.S. recessions (NBER)

What this measures

The rate comes from the monthly Current Population Survey of about 60,000 households. People who have stopped looking for work are not counted as unemployed, which is one reason economists also watch broader measures and the share of adults who are working.

Recessions show up clearly: the rate rises quickly and falls slowly. When the three-month average rises half a point above its low of the previous year, a recession has usually begun (the “Sahm rule”).

Source: BLS Current Population Survey via FRED (UNRATE). Updated automatically when the source publishes. How we handle data · Embed this chart

Unemployment rate

What this measures

The household economy, once a month